The Causeway, Sunday Morning/Afternoon

[lockestheway]

It was that time of the year again: spring break, with its travels to far away and exotic locales! Like Brazil.

Teachers and students had been asked to assemble at the causeway as per usual. Their portal would be leaving early on into the afternoon, so there was plenty of time to pack up your things and hurry on down to catch it.

So, the question remained: was everyone ready for some fun in the sun? Or was there still too much bodyswappy freaking out to be done?

Stay tuned.

[[ gather all, gather around! ]]

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[dollpocalypse]

Topher drew his wings tight around him and looked sullen. That was sort of a thing with him today, the sullenness.

Look, his shirt was uncomfortable and yesterday had been absolutely awful except for the Tony part and he just hated everything. Ugh.

[endsthegame]

"Topher...?"

Ender approached him with care - partly because he didn't want to startle the poor kid, and partly because he didn't know if this was a one-day stint or a weekender. Ahem.

[dollpocalypse]

"Hey," Topher mumbled. Guess who didn't look super enthusiastic right now either? This guy!

[endsthegame]

"How are you doing?" Ender asked, putting his bags down near him.

[dollpocalypse]

Topher thought about that for a moment.

"Bad."

Well, Ender had asked.

[endsthegame]

"I figured," Ender said, giving him a quick once-over to ensure he... wasn't maimed. "Karla didn't take this well."

[dollpocalypse]

"Figured that from the throwing things at my head," Topher mumbled. "And the throwing me. And the shower thing. And the yelling."

[endsthegame]

"You startled her." And the understatement of the year award goes to... "Tell me what happened."

'Do you want to talk about what happened?' was too much of a yes-or-no question for Topher.

[dollpocalypse]

Good choice there, Ender.

"Woke up," Topher mumbled. "And her hand was... ew, so I sort of... ran, and she, like, chased me. And I asked her to get me a phone so I could call Tony or someone--" because that made all the sense, Topher-- "and she magicked into the room and blasted the water on me and yelled and then threw me."

[wwiii]

Warren chewed the inside of his cheek as he glanced that way, with just a touch of longing, and a fair bit of concern.

No, Topher was drawing his wings tight around him.

It took him a few moments to work himself up to it, but he finally did nerve himself to approaching Topher, his head down and pretty much everything about him looking a little less himself than usual, body notwithstanding.

"Hey," he said softly. "How are you holding up, there?"

[dollpocalypse]

Well, Warren had asked, so he was getting the truthful answer.

"Bad."

[wwiii]

"I think there's a club for that," Warren offered, shrugging a little. "I was kind of hoping this whole thing would be over with by now, myself."

He missed being him.

... And he wasn't exactly sure how much he could trust Topher with his body. He wasn't about to start asking if he'd gone and dissected parts of it either, though. He wasn't feeling quite that forward, today.

"You're... um... going to keep those hidden in Rio, right?"

[dollpocalypse]

Topher reached a hand behind him to smooth down some feathers. "What? Why?"

BECAUSE, Topher.

[wwiii]

And Warren kind of looked a little more pale, getting an answer like that.

"Because people who aren't on the island aren't used to seeing guys with wings," Warren replied, and then decided to just be blunt about it. "And odds are, if they see you with them, they'll either lock you away and cut you up in the name of science, or they'll just shoot at you and then worry about what it is they just killed."

... Okay, maybe he could have been a bit more gentle about it, but humans... kind of sucked.

[dollpocalypse]

Topher made a face.

"Nuh-uh," he said. With finality.

[wwiii]

And Warren barely refrained from burying his face in his hand. There might be sobbing later.

"Topher, I've been shot at before. And I grew up being poked and prodded at for the sake of science. I'm not making this up. If you go to Rio and get caught with my wings out, it might not be your problem when we trade back, but I'm really not in any mood to find myself strapped down to another operating table. Ever."

[dollpocalypse]

Topher's eyes went a little wide. "When were you shot at?"

[life_inshadow]

"Warren?" Tara asked apprehensively, because he looked really ... wrong for Warren. "It's Tara."

She didn't look right for Tara, either.

[dollpocalypse]

Topher's eyes went huge and he took a step back. Not very Warrenly, no. "You're the -- girl who called me kitten," he blurted out, because a.) he did not know Tara and b.) he did not know Surreal's name. So.

[life_inshadow]

"What?" Tara was confused, and a bit blurry from the night spent reading spellbooks. "Why would I call you kitten? Budgie, maybe, but..."

[dollpocalypse]

"Oh." Topher considered that. "Are you someone else?"

[life_inshadow]

Tara considered it back.

"Tara," she said, tucking Surreal's hair behind that slightly pointed ear. "And who are you, really?"

[dollpocalypse]

"Topher," said Topher. "I don't think I know you."

[life_inshadow]

"Tara," Tara said, stepping back a tiny bit. "You, uh, don't. I've seen you around, but ... yeah. Hi. I'm normally ... blonder."

[dollpocalypse]

Topher instinctively scowled a little -- call it a prejudice against blonde girls -- but it promptly faded. "Hi," he said instead, sounding slightly less than friendly. Blame yesterday. Or blame his unfriendly disposition. One of the two.